Chapter 348

Seven years unseen, Qu Zhu was like a sword hidden in an ancient scabbard.

Pei Ye did not know where he had gone all these years. At the first glance, he almost did not recognize that this was that man.

The arrogance was almost entirely gone, and the extremism was also retracted under his skin, just like a naturally sharp blade that had finally seen countless impenetrable things in the world. After seven years of searching, he still had not found a way out.

But in this silence like stone, that determination that something must be done seemed to have been cast even more solidly.

Qu Zhu came to this grave he had been away from for seven years, and the twilight was just gathering.

Pei Ye still remembered the scene just now: the young man knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly, pressing the soil onto it handful by handful. Fresh yellow paper flowers surged into the sky in the heat, and lively funeral music filled the entire mountain wilderness.

Now, only the quiet, dim yellow canopy hung down from the west. The stone tablet, which did not know when it had been erected, had traces of wind and rain. Dark green cypresses stood beside the tablet, and wild grass, which had withered and grown anew several times, clustered abundantly underneath.

Qu Zhu stood with the same silence, as if he had become a part of this twilight painting. After a long time, he knelt down on one leg, took out a stack of yellow paper from his bosom, and struck the flint while shielding it from the wind with his hand.

The man burned all the paper money fold by fold. When the fire went out, the sky was already completely dark. The last dancing spark was submerged in the night, and Qu Zhu turned his head; a footstep sounded from below the slope.

Qu Zhoufu looked even more weathered than Qu Zhu.

But Pei Ye was stunned for a moment before he realized that this was not the tempering of worldly experience, but a real change in appearance.

He was indeed. aging faster.

Qu Zhoufu stood for two breaths, as if he did not see him, and walked straight to the grave, carrying a sickle, bending down to cut away the new year's grass in clumps.

Qu Zhu stood on the side watching and said: "Perhaps I will never come back again. But if I come back, I will take action."

Qu Zhoufu's movements paused, and he continued.

"In the past, I practiced the saber, solved formations, refined weapons. learned the sword." Qu Zhu said as if to himself, "Every path was remote and bumpy, and I walked on them as if on flat ground. For the obstacles I couldn't cross, I climbed with unyielding perseverance, until I truly learned the second chapter of 'Snow Collapse', thinking I had conquered the most remote and difficult things in the world."

"Now I know," Qu Zhu lowered his head, looking at Qu Zhoufu's back, "as long as one works hard, one can definitely move forward. There is nothing simpler in the world than cultivation."

Qu Zhoufu did not react.

"All these years, I have been in the remote city that was the escape destination where Master led us back then." Qu Zhu said, "The Inspector there is named Yu Zhaocai, a very admirable elder. He appreciates me very much, and I have perfected the foothold there a lot."

Qu Zhoufu stood up and said in a flat voice: "Why have you not yet stepped into the Mystic Gate."

"Cultivation is not the key." Qu Zhu looked at the empty space, "Formations and the sword are. I am looking for a solution, but the deeper I go, the more I realize the shallowness of what I learned and saw in the past."

"But those deeper and higher things. need to stand at the corresponding height."

"If you see them, can you solve the Tomb of Buried Stars?"

". Qu Zhu was completely silent. This sentence seemed to bite into the heaviest part of his heart at once. He stared at the cypress branches trembling in the night wind without saying a word, and only after a long time did he say, "I actually can't think of a way to solve it at all."

"For seven years, I have dismantled this ancient formation countless times, taking out every formation pattern to ponder. without any omissions or errors." Qu Zhu said in a low voice, "I am completely certain that what I uncovered back then was its correct full picture."

"But it's just different." The man looked into Qu Zhoufu's eyes, his voice low and hoarse, "Do you know? I even spent two years making a small-scale version. It can indeed make a piece of metal, after being inscribed and refined, complete a defensive task. But it's just different."

"No matter how many times I try, the artifacts nurtured by this formation are always cold, dead programs."

Qu Zhoufu looked at him quietly.

"I dismantled everything to the most minute and basic level. I still can't find it." Qu Zhu pursed his lips, "I can only attribute all the behaviors of that star-insect that day that couldn't find support in the formation to a 'living quality'. It is indecomposable, I don't know where it came from, and it existed in the billions of bronzes thousands of years ago, far above the formation path."

"I think it comes from that bead." Qu Zhu stared motionlessly at the cliff shadow at the highest point, "This way everything makes sense. The thing it guards endows it with the life of observing everything; it, in turn, guards that thing outside without a single omission. It is such a seamless ring, worthy of being the place where the immortal buried the stars! If I want to break this formation, I have to start with that bead, but if I want to touch that bead, I have to first break the damn—"

"Give up, Senior Brother."

". Qu Zhu stopped and looked back in a daze.

"Let go of your obsession." Qu Zhoufu looked at him, calm and low, "A long time has passed. I still remember when we were young, besides the sword, you were a genius who knew everything. Every single thing taken out alone was enviable. Everyone imagined how wonderful your life would be."

"Precisely because of this, Master was unwilling to keep you in the Hushanjian Sect."

".

"But later, you abandoned cultivation, neglected saber techniques, and threw yourself like a demon at something from thousands of years ago." Qu Zhoufu looked at him quietly, "Now you can't figure it out, and you've thrown seven years of time onto the official road. Why do you think there will definitely be a result? Even if you really hold a high position, so what? Since the immortal set up the barrier back then, can a mere mortal really smash it open?"

".

"Qu Wuhei, so many years, confused and muddled, having achieved nothing. You are already thirty years old."

Qu Zhu lowered his head, and the wretched figure squatting in straw sandals under the rain eaves back then seemed to overlap with him again.

"Otherwise, next time. we will have no choice but to meet with blades." Qu Zhoufu turned his head away, and the last trace of orange on the horizon disappeared.

Qu Zhu once again revealed that cold, tense expression of pursing his lips downward, in which a trace of the sharpness of that year was revealed again.

But after all, he was past that age, and he did not say that sentence again. He just lowered his head and smiled, looking at the horizon and sighing softly: "I already know what to do, Zhoufu. Some invisible threads cannot be crossed on one's own. Without the magical powers of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, spending one's whole life would be nothing more than being another Magistrate Yu."

——————————

At the bottom of Qingjing Lake.

The skeleton had been decaying for years, the skin and flesh had turned into dust and mud, the white bones were exposed miserably, and the torn robes were already stuck together.

There were no obvious identifiable features on the robes or the sword. Wu Dong used his sword to pick up a silk scarf from its neck, two feet in size, not broken from the decaying robes, but a piece in itself.

"It was masked."

I don't know if it was impossible to do or if it was felt unnecessary, but until he was trapped to death here, Jin Yu Zhai did not uncover this silk scarf. Now it had been untied, but no one could recognize it anymore.

Wu Dong bent down. The person had a pouch hanging on his left waist, which obviously fell into the category of magical artifacts, and the silk threads of the pouch had not rotted for years. Dismantling the bag to look, the items inside were all well-preserved. Wu Dong rummaged through them; most were ordinary items, and only a jade brush and a short note were picked out by him.

Wu Dong held this jade brush in front of him: ". A magical artifact?"

Sui Zaihua took it, and after a moment handed it back: "Yes, a brush that doesn't need ink."

Wu Dong flipped over the short note and frowned inexplicably at the words on it.

"A month later, he returned." Sui Zaihua saw that there was nothing extra, and began to help collect the skeleton, "Our group, Magistrate Yu, myself, Qu Zhu, along with the accompanying officials and guards, totaling thirty-eight people, embarked on the road south in the winter twenty years ago."

"That was perhaps the intersection of everything."

In the early winter of the Renxu year, the first snow spread to Shaolong. The snow fell heavily and urgently. In one night, the hundred-mile Great Kongdong was already covered in white.

The mighty motorcade was trapped in a slippery and difficult dangerous place. Walking out of the tent in the early morning, several people with good skills went up the mountain to take a look; the previously planned route was clearly impassable.

The two Kongdong disciples who were leading the way suggested going to Kongdong first to take shelter, but the snow was heavy and the weather was cold. Yu Zhaocai was worried that if they avoided it for two days, the snow would freeze instead, and then they would be completely trapped. Although the two Kongdong disciples said that staying for the whole winter would be fine, the term of office was clear, and Yu Zhaocai had always been serious about official business, so he decided to rush out of this mountain while the snow was soft. Once they reached the plains, everything would be easy to handle.

No matter how the decision was made, it actually only concerned the many people in the entourage who had no cultivation. Sui Zaihua and Qu Zhu leaned on the open-air ox cart, and even if the snow were twice as heavy, they would be enough to carry Yu Zhaocai in and out freely. Moreover, the person with the highest cultivation on this trip was not them, but a Grandmaster sent by the government office to escort them.

And after the snowy day, Kongdong also added several experts. It was not that they were worried about any bloody events, but that even if a small official accompanying the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Works fell and injured his legs and feet in this territory, it would inevitably look like Kongdong was standing by and watching. Therefore, sparing no manpower and resources, Kongdong tried to take care of this group of people extremely thoroughly.

This was exactly when the motorcade was closest to Kongdong. After everything was ready, they did not stop, and the group moved at full speed. By the time it was almost night, the snow fell more and more urgently, and they had already entered the truly wild depths of the Great Kongdong.

"Have you ever been to such deep mountains?" The person beside him asked.

Sui Zaihua turned his head to look. Qu Zhu was looking into the sky, only seeing the back of his head.

"First time." Sui Zaihua said.

Even in Fenghuai, if this question were asked to the vast majority, the answer would definitely be the same. This was truly the most vast heart of the Great Kongdong. The surrounding mountain shadows were like towering giants, high cliffs and ancient trees, wild owls and chaotic branches; everything was free and without a trace of human presence.

"Look, is that a tiger cave?" Qu Zhu suddenly raised his hand and pointed with a smile. Looking at the other end of the valley, a pitch-black cave entrance opened on the stone wall on the cliff. Under the cover of the green trees, it was truly deep and faint. If it weren't for the white snow covering it at this time, it would definitely not be visible.

"Tigers don't live on cliffs. This should be. the 'Hidden Dragon Cave'." This sentence actually stirred up some memories for Sui Zaihua, "I've heard of it. Further ahead is the 'Great Tianlan', deep valleys and dangerous cliffs, with no retreat once entered. It's not easy to camp ahead, so I suppose we will stop here tonight."

As soon as the words fell, the carts and horses in front had already stopped, and a whistle was passed to the rear, and the oxen and horses stopped one after another.

"The Magistrate has ordered! Temporarily find an open space to camp and rest!"

Qu Zhu was still looking up at the sky. Sui Zaihua looked casually, and an eagle shadow was circling in the sky. Qu Zhu turned his head, smiled, and flipped off the cart: "Starving to death, I'll go help clean up."

Sui Zaihua nodded: "I'll set it up alone."

Unloading the tent from the ox cart, silk cloth, felt cloth, leather, a total of three layers, Sui Zaihua spread them up layer by layer, and the entire camp already had a prototype.

Now about half of the team had cultivation. Under this proportion, there was almost no feeling of being a burden. Soon flames rose, and a pot of warming porridge had already been boiled there.

Soon the porridge was cooked, and the crowd gathered around. Sui Zaihua was not in a hurry to grab the first bowl, but against the crowd, Qu Zhu had already walked over with two bowls.

Sui Zaihua smiled and took them, when suddenly a somewhat urgent shout sounded from the side: "Inspector Sui! Junior Minister Yu is urgently calling for you."

Sui Zaihua was stunned for a moment, put down the porridge, and came to the front of the main tent. Yu Zhaocai was standing outside the door with several Kongdong disciples, nodding from time to time as he listened to their explanations.

"Zaihua." The old man raised his hand to greet him.

"Magistrate Yu."

"The young heroes said that they had whistled before, but the two leading disciples in front have not been found back. They suspect that they have lost their way and are about to go and pick them up together." The old man's voice was as solid and reliable as ever, "I want you to go with them. In case there are any difficulties, everyone can coordinate together."

"Oh, easy to say." Sui Zaihua cupped his hands.

It turned out that after the snow, the newly chosen route was really slippery and had snow cover, so the two Kongdong disciples who were more familiar with the terrain were exploring the way in front, leaving safe and feasible signs for the large team.

Now that they were no longer moving forward, naturally they should call the people back, but after the whistle, the people had not returned, which was why the Kongdong sect members had this worry.

"Most likely the snow is too chaotic, and they took a wrong turn by accident. Small matter."

(End of chapter)